One year to the day after visiting Judge Westbrook J. Parker dug into the wallets of 40 Gloucester citizens, he will be up for reappointment as a circuit court judge. On Dec. 17, 2008, Parker levied sanctions of $2,000 apiece...

Friday's column; a continuation of this blog post from Wednesday The party that claims to champion small government is at it again. This month Republican majorities in both chambers in Virginia's Legislature passed one of the strictest mandatory pre-...

Let it never be said, when state senators rise to the heights of co-chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, that they bear grudges.
So, when state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, last week hesitantly risked bucking both co-chairmen of that...

Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw has signaled repeatedly - and sometimes just outright said - that he doesn't see any movement coming on the state's budget impasse until after the new fiscal year starts July 1.
And with the news this morning that...

UPDATE: Gov. Bob McDonnell late Thursday said he would sign the redistricting legislation passed by the General Assembly "as soon as it reaches my desk." In a statement, the governor said the legislation approved by state lawmakers earlier in the day...

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Legislators tasked with vetting Virginia judges criticized a pair of Peninsula judges during a six-hour hearing Friday that also brought forth bias concerns about the state's judicial evaluation tool.
James City County Judge Colleen K. Killilea and Newport News Judge Alfred O. Masters Jr. both ranked near the bottom in those evaluations, which allow attorneys to opine anonymously. Legislators look at these rankings when they decide judicial reappointments.
"It's a one-sided survey, and I'm not the...

House of Delegates lawmakers passed the Republican plan for redistricting late Wednesday over the objections from Democrats including Del. Robin Abbott and House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong.
The GOP plan, put forward by Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, was voted on near midnight Wednesday after lawmakers had already handled a full day of vetoes and amendments offered by Gov. Bob McDonnell - and it passed on an 86 to 8 margin.
The only objections came from a handful of Democrats, many of whom were...

Virginia political experts on Wednesday published a damning analysis of the state redistricting maps passed by the General Assembly this week.
The 17-page report, authored by Christopher Newport University professor Quentin Kidd and Dustin Cable of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at University of Virginia, says that the maps make legislative districts less compact, split more cities and counties and also separate more communities of interest then current state maps.
"In short the maps...

Redistricting is an ugly process, one that almost always leaves bruised feelings among the minority party.
And that's playing out in both chambers of the General Assembly this week. Republicans control the House of Delegates and have eliminated the district of Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry. Democrats control the Senate and are drawing four Republican incumbents into two districts.
Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. Norment, Jr., R-James City, was especially upset with the Democratic proposal....

-- The new version of the controversial fetal ultrasound measure was approved by the Senate Education and Health Committee Thursday morning.
The bill, which passed on an 8-7 party line vote, does not require women to have an invasive transvaginal ultrasound before receiving an abortion. It still requires an external abdominal ultrasound prior to an abortion, followed by a 24-hour wait period.
The new version was prompted after Gov. Bob McDonnell and Republican lawmakers backed away from requiring...